Friday, November 21, 2014

I know I'm posting belatedly again. The usual reason: first things first. But no matter how out-of-date the events seem to be, they're always fresh in my memory and they deserve a decent space in my cyberhome, which is this blog.

So here I am humming a not really so old song of a quietly beautiful passage of a couple of days and nights in the late stage of autumn.

It was November 4 when snow fell heavily and steadily after lunch time and into the night. We have had snow flurries previously, but this was the first snowfall that felt almost like a snowstorm on account of the blowing wind that swayed the treetops and the ends of the lower branches.

By night, after our meeting at the KH, every surface was blanketed with thick snow. Impenetrable clouds lingered. Gradually, the snowfall slowed down while the rushing winds blew the clouds away. As the clouds thinned out, the moon slowly emerged, surrounded by a colorful halo.

When the sky was completely clear, the rising Orion instantly caught my eyes. While I was shooting at a long exposure, a huge meteor zipped across the sky, away from Orion. Then I recalled that the Taurid meteor shower would come the following day/night. So that was a prelude to the meteor shower!

That was not the last marvel that would emblazon the sky that night. Looking right from our backyard, I caught sight of a faint green hue over the horizon, moving and spreading out. Was the aurora active that night? I didn't check the forecast that day. But it was an aurora, apparently in its waning phase. The ebbing lights still left me mesmerized until the last flicker.

That was another emotionally charged night when I felt transported to a place free from earthly cares and troubles, where I was alone with all these creative wonders and felt safe in the bosom of the One who brought these things into being.

*****

The day came with the sun kissing the fresh blanket of snow in the wake of the previous day's snowfall. Glitters abounded everywhere!

Leaves of ice grew overnight from the twigs of trees! Each "leaf" sparkled like a diamond as it caught a piece of sunshine. The sight completely put me in a trance even though that wasn't my first time to see that phenomenon. The feeling of awe is always fresh.

The icy rowan berries set against the blue sky are a pleasure to behold!

On the way to work, I was detained by the sight of frosts emitting prismatic colors. I stopped and stooped, painstakingly capturing the designs of the tiny ice crystals through my camera. Oh, yes, my fingers suffered the sting of the cold as I meticulously focused on the ice crystals. But my satisfaction, though not 100 percent, of having taken such tiny matters up close was worth the tingling pain.

I took these at my workplace.

Afternoon at the bus stops beside the University Hospital.

Evening walk in the neighborhood.

So ended this tale of days and nights that transported me to a world of bliss.

Monday, November 3, 2014

I'm referring to the day after my aurora sighting. After all those spellbinding light shows in the night sky, another kind of enchantment turned up in the morning. This time, the show was right under the feet, and a little higher.

From our dining room window, the outdoor scene looked like this.

Yes, frosts coated the grass and other vegetation. From afar, the frosts look unattractive, but viewed up close, the charm of the tiny cystals unfolds.

It was time to stoop and peer closer to the tiny ice crystals that speared up from the leaves. I took my time to scour the ground for the most photogenic frosts, and then endured the icy pain that stung my fingers as I focused my camera lens on my chosen subjects at different angles.

I know that these tiny ice crystals are quite inconspicuous when we look at them with the naked eye. But if we macro-shoot them, the designs and the sparkles become clearly manifest. Not an easy thing to do, but with patience, anything is possible, so goes the cliche.

So...once again, that day brought another wondrous gift that delighted my soul. Another marvel of creation. Another one of the many miracles that are happening everyday. A testimony to our Creator's wisdom and power.